In Ap-Fonden v. Activision Blizzard, Inc., C.A. No. 2022-1001-KSJM, 2024 WL 863290 (Del. Ch. Feb. 29, 2024), the Delaware Court of Chancery (McCormick, C.) declined to dismiss a claim alleging that the Board of Directors of...more
In Segway Inc. v. Hong Cai, 2023 Del. Ch. LEXIS 643 (Del. Ch. Dec. 14, 2023), the Delaware Court of Chancery (Will, V.C.) dismissed a claim for breach of fiduciary duty brought by Segway Inc. (the “Company”) against its...more
12/28/2023
/ Acquisitions ,
Board of Directors ,
Breach of Duty ,
Business Litigation ,
Caremark claim ,
Commercial Litigation ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Corporate Officers ,
Dispute Resolution ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Mergers ,
Oversight Duties
In Anderson v. Magellan Health, Inc., No. 2021-0202, — A.3d —-, 2023 WL 4364524 (Del. Ch. July 6, 2023) (McCormick, C.), the Delaware Court of Chancery addressed the circumstances under which the Court will award a...more
7/18/2023
/ Acquisitions ,
Attorney's Fees ,
Board of Directors ,
Breach of Duty ,
Business Litigation ,
Corporate Governance ,
Delaware ,
Disclosure ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Injunctive Relief ,
Mergers ,
Proxy Statements ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Litigation ,
Shareholder Litigation ,
Shareholders
In Crest v. Padilla, No. 19STCV27561, 2022 WL 1565613 (Cal. Super. May 13, 2022), the Superior Court of California for the County of Los Angeles (Duffy-Lewis, J.) issued a decision following a bench trial finding that Senate...more
5/24/2022
/ Board of Directors ,
Business Litigation ,
California ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Corporate Governance ,
Diversity ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Gender Equity ,
Legislative Agendas ,
State Constitutions ,
State Legislatures ,
Woman Board Members
In Crest v. Padilla, No. 20STCV37513 (Cal. Super. Apr. 1, 2022), the Superior Court of California for the County of Los Angeles (Green, J.) declared that Section 301.4 of the California Corporations Code is unconstitutional...more
4/13/2022
/ Appeals ,
Board of Directors ,
California ,
Corporate Governance ,
Corporations Code ,
Diversity ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Governor Newsom ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Litigation ,
State and Local Government ,
State Constitutions ,
Summary Judgment
In Tola v. Bryant, No. 16150, 2022 Cal. App. LEXIS 241 (Cal. App. Mar. 24, 2022), the First Appellate District of the California Court of Appeal applied Delaware’s new formulation of the test for determining whether a...more
4/7/2022
/ Appeals ,
Appellate Courts ,
Board of Directors ,
California ,
Controlling Stockholders ,
Corporate Governance ,
DE Supreme Court ,
Delaware ,
Derivative Tort Claims ,
Securities Litigation ,
Standing ,
State and Local Government
In United Food & Commercial Workers Union & Participating Food Industry Employers Tri-State Pension Fund v. Zuckerberg, No. 404, 2020, — A.3d –, 2021 WL 3433261 (Del. Sept. 23, 2021), the Delaware Supreme Court adopted a new...more
In Coster v. UIP Companies, Inc., No. 49-2020, 2021 WL 2644094 (Del. June 28, 2021), the Delaware Supreme Court reversed a Court of Chancery ruling, No. 2018-0440-KSJM, 2020 WL 429906 (Del. Ch. Jan. 28, 2020) (McCormick,...more
Rule 23.1 of the Delaware Court of Chancery Rules requires a plaintiff asserting a shareholder derivative action to plead “with particularity the efforts, if any, made by the plaintiff to obtain the action the plaintiff...more
5/14/2020
/ Board of Directors ,
Breach of Duty ,
Burden of Proof ,
Demand Futility ,
Derivative Suit ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Local Rules ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
Pleading Standards ,
Pleadings ,
Quid Pro Quo ,
Rules of Civil Procedure ,
Section 220 Request ,
Shareholder Litigation ,
Shareholders
In High River Limited Partnership v. Occidental Petroleum Corp., C.A. No. 2019-0403-JRS, 2019 WL 6040285 (Del. Ch. Nov. 14, 2019) (Slights, V.C.), the Delaware Court of Chancery held that a stockholder’s mere disagreement...more
In Marchand v. Barnhill, No. 533, 2018, 2019 Del. LEXIS 310 (Del. June 18, 2019), the Delaware Supreme Court (Strine, C.J.) reversed a Delaware Court of Chancery (Slights, V.C.) order dismissing a derivative claim alleging...more
7/30/2019
/ Bad Faith ,
Blue Bell Creameries ,
Board of Directors ,
Breach of Duty ,
Caremark claim ,
DE Supreme Court ,
Derivative Suit ,
Duty of Loyalty ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
Food Manufacturers ,
Food Safety ,
Listeria ,
Shareholder Litigation
In Drulias v. 1st Century Bancshares, Inc., No. H045049, 2018 WL 6735137 (Cal. App. Dec. 21, 2018), the California Court of Appeal, Sixth Appellate District, affirmed an order staying a stockholder lawsuit brought in the...more
1/28/2019
/ Appeals ,
Board of Directors ,
Breach of Duty ,
Bylaws ,
Cal Code of Civil Procedure ,
Common Stock ,
Corporations Code ,
Enforcement ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Foreign Corporations ,
Forum Non Conveniens ,
Forum Selection ,
Internal Affairs Doctrine ,
Jurisdiction ,
Mergers ,
Motion To Stay ,
Putative Class Actions ,
Retroactive Application ,
Securities Litigation ,
Statutory Rights
In In re Investors Bancorp, Inc. Stockholder Litigation, No. 169, 2017, 2017 WL 6374741 (Del. Dec. 13, 2017), the Delaware Supreme Court limited the ability of directors to assert the stockholder ratification defense when...more
1/4/2018
/ Board of Directors ,
Business Judgment Rule ,
DE Supreme Court ,
Entire Fairness Standard ,
Equity Plans ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Ratification ,
Self-Dealing ,
Shareholder Approval ,
Shareholder Litigation ,
Shareholders
In a shareholder derivative action, to survive a motion to dismiss for failure to plead facts showing demand futility, a derivative plaintiff must plead particularized facts showing either actual involvement by a majority of...more
7/17/2017
/ Board of Directors ,
Breach of Duty ,
Bribery ,
Demand Futility ,
Derivative Suit ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Foreign Official ,
Illegal Conduct ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
Pleading Standards ,
Qualcomm ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Litigation ,
Shareholder Litigation ,
White Collar Crimes
Stockholder claims alleging wrongful dilution are typically considered to be derivative in nature. Several decisions out of Delaware, however, have created exceptions to this general rule allowing stockholders to sue...more
1/20/2017
/ Aiding and Abetting ,
Appeals ,
Board of Directors ,
Breach of Contract ,
Breach of Duty ,
DE Supreme Court ,
Derivative Suit ,
Dilution ,
Direct Suit ,
Master Limited Partnerships ,
Mergers ,
Mootness ,
Parent Corporation ,
Partnership Agreements ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Reversal ,
Self-Dealing ,
Shareholders ,
Standing ,
Tortious Interference
In In re Zagg Inc. Shareholder Derivative Action, No. 15-4001, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 11095 (10th Cir. June 20, 2016), the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit held that stockholders of a Utah-based, Nevada...more
7/5/2016
/ Board of Directors ,
Breach of Duty ,
Demand Futility ,
Derivative Suit ,
Dismissals ,
Exculpatory Clauses ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Personal Liability ,
Pleading Standards ,
Self-Interest ,
Shareholder Demands ,
Shareholder Litigation
In In re Appraisal of Dell Inc., No. 9322 VCL, 2016 Del. Ch. LEXIS 81 (Del. Ch. May 31, 2016) (Laster, V.C.), the Delaware Court of Chancery determined that the fair value of the common stock of Dell Inc. (“Dell” or the...more
6/10/2016
/ Appraisal ,
Appraisal Rights ,
Board of Directors ,
Common Stock ,
Delaware General Corporation Law ,
Dell ,
Fair Market Value ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Leveraged Buyout ,
Mergers ,
Voting Securities
A ruling last fall by the Delaware Chancery Court has prompted a wave of 8 Del. C. § 220 books and records inspection demands on (and threatened litigation against) Delaware corporations that have entered into credit...more
6/11/2015
/ Board of Directors ,
Books & Records ,
Change in Control ,
Credit Agreements ,
Debt Financing ,
Debt Securities ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Lenders ,
Proxy Put ,
Shareholder Litigation ,
Shareholders
In Quadrant Structured Products Co., Ltd. v. Vertin, C.A. No. 6990-VCL, 2015 WL 2062115 (Del. Ch. May 4, 2015), the Delaware Court of Chancery held that a creditor plaintiff needs only establish that a corporation was...more
In Houseman v. Sagerman, C.A. No. 8898-VCG, 2014 WL 1478511 (Del. Ch. Apr. 16, 2014), the Delaware Court of Chancery (Glasscock, V.C.) granted, in part, a motion to dismiss filed by certain directors and the financial advisor...more
5/13/2014
/ Board of Directors ,
Breach of Duty ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Corporate Governance ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Mergers ,
Pleading Standards ,
Pleadings ,
Professional Liability ,
Shareholder Litigation ,
Shareholders
In In re Answers Corp. Shareholders Litigation, C.A. No. 6170-VCN, 2014 WL 463163 (Del. Ch. Feb. 3, 2014), the Delaware Court of Chancery (Noble, V.C.) granted summary judgment in favor of defendants in a stockholder class...more
In Morrical v. Rogers, No. A137011, 2013 Cal. App. LEXIS 811 (Cal. App. Oct. 10, 2013), the California Court of Appeal, First District, held that the summary procedures set forth in California Corporations Code § 709 may be...more
In Boilermakers Local 154 Retirement Fund v. Chevron Corp., C.A. No. 7220-CD, 2013 WL 3191981 (Del. Ch. June 25, 2013), the Delaware Court of Chancery dismissed facial challenges to the validity of corporate bylaws that...more
In In re MFW Shareholder Litigation, C.A. No. 6566-CS, 2013 WL 2436341 (Del. Ch. May 29, 2013), the Delaware Court of Chancery analyzed one of the most important open questions of Delaware corporate law: whether it is...more
In Scheenstra v. California Dairies, Inc., No. F062768, ___ Cal. Rptr. 3d ___, 2013 WL 363148 (Cal. App. 5th Dist. Jan. 30, 2013), the California Court of Appeal, Fifth District, affirmed the judgment of the California...more